The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Bk. 4 eBook

of king Virata. O Pandu’s son, that Pandava
who was respectfully waited upon in court by kings
and sages, behold him now waiting upon another.
Alas, beholding Yudhishthira a courtier sitting beside
another and breathing adulatory speeches to the other,
who can help being afflicted with grief? And
beholding the highly wise and virtuous Yudhishthira,
undeserving as he is of serving others, actually serving
another for sustenance, who can help being afflicted
with grief? And, O hero, that Bharata who was
worshipped in court by the entire earth, do thou now
behold him worshipping another. Why then, O Bharata,
dost thou not regard me as one afflicted with diverse
miseries, like one forlorn and immersed in a sea of
sorrow?’”

SECTION XIX

“Draupadi said, ’This O Bharata, that
I am going to tell thee is another great grief of
mine. Thou shouldst not blame me, for I tell thee
this from sadness of heart. Who is there whose
grief is not enhanced at sight of thee, O bull of
the Bharata race, engaged in the ignoble office of
a cook, so entirely beneath thee and calling thyself
as one of Vallava caste? What can be sadder
than this, that people should know thee as Virata’s
cook, Vallava by name, and therefore one that is sunk
in servitude? Alas, when thy work of the kitchen
is over, thou humbly sittest beside Virata, calling
thyself as Vallava the cook, then despondency seizeth
my heart. When the king of kings in joy maketh
thee fight with elephants, and the women of the inner
apartments (of the palace) laugh all the while, then
I am sorely distressed. When thou fightest in
the inner apartments with lions, tigers, and buffaloes,
the princess Kaikeyi looking on, then I almost swoon
away. And when Kaikeyi and those maidservants,
leaving their seats, come to assist me and find that
instead of suffering any injury in limbs mine is only
a swoon, the princess speaks unto her women, saying,
’Surely, it is from affection and the duty begot
of intercourse that this lady of sweet smiles grieveth
for the exceedingly powerful cook when he fights with
the beasts. Sairindhri is possessed of great
beauty and Vallava also is eminently handsome.
The heart of woman is hard to know, and they, I fancy,
are deserving of each other. It is, therefore,
likely that the Sairindhri invariably weepeth (at
such times) on account of her connection with her
lover. And then, they both have entered this royal
family at the same time. And speaking such words
she always upbraideth me. And beholding me wroth
at this, she suspects me to be attached to thee.’
When she speaketh thus, great is the grief that I feel.
Indeed, on beholding thee, O Bhima of terrible prowess,
afflicted with such calamity, sunk as I already am
in grief on account of Yudhishthira, I do not desire
to live. That youth who on a single car had vanquished
all celestials and men, is now, alas, the dancing
master of king Virata’s daughter. That